Porthole to Nowhere
by Paige Collins
Summary: While on a boring train ride to Hogwarts, Harry and his peers are transported to another world where the queen there has a deep dark secret...


Porthole to Nowhere

By: Paige Collins

Author's Note: The setting is not in the time of castles and dragons and whatever. It's a special, fairytaleish land, so there isn't anybody like that, so don't say I'm getting anything wrong.

As Harry took a seat, he sighed. One hectic week was now behind him and the only thing happening now was the train-ride to Hogwarts. He laid his head back against the seat and felt his body instantly relax; the silence of the compartment felt nice. Harry also had a feeling (although he couldn't see, his eyes were closed) that Hermione and Ron were doing the same thing.

He heard Ron sigh. "What a week, huh?"

"Hmmm," said Hermione, quite occupied by her thoughts.

"Right," Harry mumbled, distracted, like Hermione seemed. But he knew how Ron felt.

"You know what I plan to do the way up there?" asked Ron. His voice was quite, as though he was relaxed.

"What?" said Harry, leaning forward, his eyes wide open. "If it's anything like what I plan to do, which is sleep, then…"

Ron grinned. "You read my mind."

Hermione didn't reply to anything after that. Her heard was tilted to the side, and she was staring out the window. But as Harry looked closer, her eyes were closed and she was asleep.

"I think Hermione has the right idea," Ron said. He closed his eyes. "I mean, after what we just went through, who wouldn't want to?"

Harry didn't answer. He didn't want to answer. He wanted to take the quiet in the compartment and rest. 

The train gave a sudden lurch and began to steam down the tracks. Harry opened his eyes and saw the train pulling away, and witches and wizards were Disapparating everywhere and soon, minutes later, Harry soon saw scenery. But the scenes were ruined by the presence of black, gray and white stormy clouds looming and rolling over. It looked like it would rain any minute now.

"Wonder if it'll rain," said Ron lazily. "I mean, the clouds…"

"Maybe…"

Hermione snored softly in the corner. Ron chuckled.

Harry's tired body felt it couldn't handle to chuckle, so he kept quiet and watched trees and fields fly by the window. He felt tired and now he was going to try to sleep. That past week had been hectic. First, when they went to Diagon Alley for new books, the week was starting off fine. Then, as Harry, Ron, and Hermione strolled around, looking at everything and peddling away time, a crazy girl began to try to run after Harry. Harry could still see her dark blonde hair flying behind her as she ran and shoved people over. The expression on her face…it burned with hatred and a sick look like she wanted Harry dead right then.

Harry was used to this by now. So far, ever since he'd found out he was a wizard, something had happened. Harry felt this was the burden you have when everyone happens to know your name in the wizarding world. So anyway, Harry, Ron and Hermione spent an hour dodging from her grasp. Then, to top things off, when Harry and Ron went back to the Weasley's, they realized they'd left their books at Diagon Alley. They didn't tell Mrs. Weasley this, so instead (like Ron suggested) sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night and went back to search. Harry thought perhaps the girl would be there waiting for him, but instead no one was there.

So they grabbed their books and Mrs. Weasley nearly shouted herself hoarse at Ron about sneaking out. ("You could have been killed! What were you thinking?! You should have told Arthur or me……")

Then when time for Hogwarts rolled around, Hermione had wanted to ride with them there, but along the way, their car broke down. Harry felt like he'd fall over right there trying to carry a trunk a mile there.

Harry was surprised he'd survived at all.

"Hey, Harry…"

Harry felt someone shaking his shoulders. He batted at the person, missed and gave up. He began to go back to sleep when the shaking continued. "Ron, go away…I'm tired…" He opened his eyes. "What is it, Ron?"

Ron pointed to the plump witch that pushed the food cart. She was standing there and Harry then realized he'd been asleep for hours.

"Think we should have waken up Hermione?" asked Ron as the witch left. "I mean, she might be mad when she wakes up."

"Nah," said Harry. "I bought enough." He passed Ron a Cauldron Cake.

"Thanks," Ron said. He leaned back. "You know, walking one mile, pulling a three ton trunk can really make you hungry."

Harry didn't know why he laughed.

"Right. I never want to do that again," he said. Then something dawned on Harry. "Hey, Ron." He had lowered his voice to a whisper.

"What?"

"You know that we have the time, who'd you reckon that girl at Diagon Alley was anyway?"

Ron shrugged. "There's a lot of weirdos. I dunno, Harry, maybe you have another fan even more obsessive than Ginny or Colin."

Harry smiled. "Maybe. But she looked weird, you know. Her hair was too long. I mean, not that it was a problem, but did you see her eyes?"

"No," replied Ron. "I was too busy trying to get away."

"You didn't get a good look at her?"

"Nope."

Harry was quiet, then said, "I did. Her eyes were the wrong color of green. I mean, there isn't a right color of eyes a person should have, but they looked…weird. And her ears were slightly pointed."

"People are weird," Ron said. "So was she. I don't know why you're making a big deal. It wasn't You-Know-Who, you know."

"I know it wasn't Voldemort," Harry said. ("Don't say his name!" Ron hissed, flinching at the sound of Voldemort's name.) "It was a girl, right?"

"Would You-Know-Who look that good?" Ron said. "It was a weird girl, maybe she thought you were someone else. An ex-boyfriend or something." He shrugged.

Hermione made a sound beside Ron and turned over.

"Shhh," said Harry.

There was quite in the compartment, except for the rain lashing at the windows, and drumming against the top of the train. Harry looked out the window and saw a brilliant flash of lighting light up the sky and the crack of thunder sounded after it.

"The weather," Harry said, shaking his head. "Hey, Ron, I wonder who we'll have for Defense Against the Dark Arts this year?"

"Maybe it'll be a vampire," suggested Ron. "Or a witch. Hey, maybe that girl was the new teacher."

Harry laughed. "Perhaps."

Ron joined in his laughter.

Hermione made a noise. Harry held a finger to his lips, and said, "Shhh."

"Yeah," Ron said, quieter. "It's kinda good to talk without Hermione. No offense to her–"

"None taken," mumbled Hermione.

"Oh, you're awake?" Harry said as Hermione's eyes fluttered open.

"Yeah," said Hermione vaguely. She sat up and yawned. "So, what time is it?"

Ron shrugged. "The witch pushing the food cart left about twenty minutes," he said. "It's probably noon, but with the weather like this you can't really tell."

Hermione frowned as she looked out the window. "You should have woken me up."

"Want something?" asked Harry.

"Yeah," Hermione said. "Let me have a Cauldron Cake."

The rain came down harder than ever. The windows almost broke from the force of the rain pelting against it. Thunder crashed like a hammer or a gong and lightning lit the sky up in a dazzling flash of white. The dark gray swirl of what seemed to be clouds floated above.

"What a day," muttered Ron. "Typical."

"What's typical?" asked Hermione.

Ron shrugged. "It's just typical. The day on the Hogwarts Express and it rains. It always seems to happen."

Harry shivered; he thought about his third year in which it rained and a dementor came onto the train. He remembered how the fun and happiness sucked right out of him and how he passed out. It was cold and the only thing he could hear was his mother, Lily Potter, screaming.

Harry shook his head. "Yeah."

Hermione uncharacteristically put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You look troubled, Harry, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Harry muttered, watching the rain outside. "I'm just tired."

Hermione left it at that.

"So," Ron said, breaking the silence. 

"So?" said Hermione.

"So," said Ron. 

"This is pointless," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "It's just the weather, isn't it? It's gotten us down. Come on, Harry, there's usually loads to talk about." She sighed. "I just don't want it quiet in here, it makes me depressed."

Harry shivered. "It also cold."

Just then, the compartment door slid open. In walked fellow Gryffindor fifth years Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.

"Hello, Seamus," Harry said, "Dean."

"Hey," said Seamus back. "It was getting kind of quiet and boring in our compartment."

"Join the club," muttered Ron depressingly.

Seamus sighed and sat down by Dean. "You know, I've been wondering who we'll have for Defense Against the Dark Arts this years. Maybe it'll be a witch, Dean said he hoped it would be."

"Well," said Dean, "I didn't have specific witch."

Seamus blushed.

"What if," said Hermione, changing the subject, "the teacher were Remus Lupin again?"

Harry grinned. "That would be great."

Ron chuckled to himself. "Just think of the look on Snape's face when he finds out who got the job _again?_"

Harry laughed. "Yeah."

Everyone knew that Harry's least favorite teacher, Professor Severus Snape, who taught Potions, had always wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. But every year he missed out.

"What if Snape got the job?" Ron said, horrified by his thought. "And someone else is teaching Potions? Remember when Lupin was here he did…urgh, I don't think I could stand it."

Hermione patted Ron on the shoulder. "Don't worry," she said. "That wouldn't happen."

Ron nodded, but the scared look stayed in his eyes.

Minutes passed as the conversation turned to Quidditch. Harry said he wondered if Quidditch matches were back on that year. In their previous year, due to the Triwizard Tournament, the matches had been canceled. Harry hoped this year nothing special was going on.

"I just want to get back on broom," said Harry. 

"Wish I could," Ron said.

"Yeah," agreed Dean and Seamus.

Hermione looked out the window, very bored with the subject.

"You know," Ron said, "I wonder who Gryffindor captain will be this year? I mean, Wood isn't here…"

"Yeah," said Harry. "I wonder…"

"Wouldn't it be cool if it were you?" Dean said. 

Harry looked at Ron and saw him frown at Dean.

Hermione sighed loudly. "Is that all you can talk about?" she complained. "I like Quidditch, but it's getting old."

Ron frowned at Hermione, and Semaus and Dean, sensing something, both said bye and exited.

"What?" said Hermione, for Ron was still staring at her.

"You know," said Ron. "That little comment."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I made one comment, Ron." She groaned. "Look, it's getting so boring we're actually fighting with each other."

"So?" said Ron.

"So what?"

"So…never mind."

The only sounds to be heard were fellow students in other compartments talking loudly and the rain lashing at the windows violently. It was getting dark outside, but Harry couldn't tell time anymore; it had been dark for hours.

"I wish something would happen," Ron muttered, mostly to himself. "Something exciting…like the…I dunno, train crashing…"

"Ron!" Hermione said sharply.

"What?" said Ron. "It's not like it _is._ And you have to admit it, Hermione, it is a bit boring around here."

"I know that," Hermione said angrily. "Don't you think I _know_ that by now?"

"Come on," said Harry. "Stop fighting. You just making thing–"

"Don't tell me we're making things worse," said Hermione shrilly, "because…ohhh! I'm going to find another compartment and I'll come back when that…that…that _boy_ learns not to be so touchy!"

Hermione got up suddenly, stomped to the compartment door, slid it open and stomped out. The noise scared Hedwig and she started hooting noisily.

Ron turned to Harry. "_I'm_ touchy? Gee, girls get mad over the littlest things, I tell you. Well, she can stay away for all I care. It's better off with boys anyway…"

He looked out the window, frowning. "Besides, boys have loads to talk about amongst themselves. We don't need old Hermione to tell us what to say and how to say it and how to treat a girl. And I know how treat girls. You're nice to them and you give them presents. It makes them happy." He turned to Harry. "Am I right?"

"I would guess so," said Harry, who didn't have a clue about what Ron was talking about. 

"But then, no, no. They want to talk, they want you to share your _feelings._ Men don't share feelings. Women share feelings. Men do not. And then they want to dress you up in what they think looks good on you and whatever, and make you very uncomfortable."

"Yeah, I guess they do…" Harry didn't know how Ron knew all this. "Hey, Ron, have you actually ever had a girlfriend?"

"I'm straight, Harry, is all I'm saying," replied Ron.

"No, no!" said Harry. "No. I mean, where are you getting all this?"

Ron shrugged. "You just know girls."

Harry was quiet. "Hey, Ron?"

"Hmmm?"

"It's getting boring without, Hermione."

"I know. Just not yet. We'll let her back in a bit. If we let her in too early, she'll start some speech and we'll loose track of what's she saying."

Harry chuckled. Ron was right. It was like Hermione to do something like that.

There was a sound of movement, and Harry looked up to see the compartment door open. But instead of Hermione or anyone else, Draco Malfoy, Harry's enemy, stood there, all alone. His cronies Crabbe and Goyle, who usually followed Malfoy everywhere, were no where to be found.

"Hello, Potter, Weasely," said Malfoy coldy, his gray eyes glittering evilly.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" snapped Ron.

"I'm not here on fun, Weasel," he snapped back. "I'm here on business."

Ron stood up. "What are you talking about?"

"Back off, Weasely. Don't get so hot under the collar. I haven't done anything to you yet," said Malfoy.

"And you won't," said Ron. "Looks like your body guards aren't here."

Malfoy took a step back. "I don't need them," he said. His eyes darted down the hall. "It isn't like I can't live without them."

Ron stared. "Just tell me why you're here, Malfoy, and get the–"

"Oh, I'll tell you all right," interrupted Malfoy.

"–out," said Ron.

Malfoy was quiet for a minute and then mumbled something.

"What was that, Malfoy?" asked Ron.

"I don't have to tell you," said Malfoy, "and by the way, where's Mudblood Granger at? Supposed they expelled her for being Muggle?"

Harry jumped up and grabbed Ron by the shirt to hold him back.

"I'd stop if I were you, Malfoy," Ron hissed.

"You wouldn't hurt me, Weasely," said Malfoy. "Now would you?"

"Get off, Harry," Ron said. "Get _off._"

"But of course you wouldn't hurt me," Malfoy babbled on lazily. "What my father could do to ours is unreal. Besides, what if my dad was to sue? Where would you get money?"

"Oh, that's it," Ron said dangerously. "Oh, that is it! Harry, get off me, I'm about to teach…this…"

"Oh, _Draco,_" called a voice from out in the hall. "Draco, where are you?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "I'm in here, Pansy," he said.

Pansy Parkinson, an ugly Slytherin girl, poked her head in. "Come on, Draco. It's your turn to dare Crabbe–"

"Wait," said Ron, "this is a dare?"

"Oh, yeah," said Pansy. "We dared Draco to come down here with out Crabbe and Goyle." Then she clamped her hand over her mouth. "Uh-oh." She grabbed Draco's arm and pulled him from the compartment. "Come on…"

WHAM!

Someone fell to the floor.

"Watch it!" snapped Pansy.

"You watch it," said Hermione, picking herself off the floor. "You need to watch where you're going."

"I don't need to," said Pansy. "Just get out of my way next time."

Hermione walked into the compartment. "Goodbye, Pansy, Malfoy."

"Wait," said Malfoy, "I didn't do the dare."

"Come _on,_" whined Pansy, tugging on his arm. "Come on!"

"But…I can't…"

"You've got your little body guards," said Pansy reassuringly. "Besides, they're sixth years, what can they do to a cute little fifth year like you, huh? Now come on, I don't like being down here."

"No, I said…" Draco tried to tug his arm free from Pansy's hand.

They began to tug each other in and out of the compartment.

"Wait," said Ron suddenly, "wait. This is a dare?"

"No," Malfoy said sharply, "Weasel…_get_ _off me, Pansy!_" He jerked his arm and sent both of them toppling into the compartment, Pansy on top of Malfoy. The compartment door slammed shut suddenly behind them.

"Get off, Pansy!" Malfoy said, shoving Pansy off of him. "You're hurting me…get off!"

"I'm trying to!" cried Pansy, trying to remove herself off of Malfoy.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stood in the corner, howling with laughter.

"Can you help us?" asked Pansy, looking at Harry.

Harry let a snort of laughter and the three starting laughing again.

Pansy gave him a dirty look and grabbed the door and helped herself off; she held her hand out of Malfoy, but he ignored it and tried to get up; he tripped and Pansy tried to catch him and sent both of them flying into a seat.

"Shut up," said Malfoy, his face bright red. He threw a mean look at Pansy. "Come on, let's get out of here."

He walked over to the compartment door and tried to open it. It seemed to be stuck, so he tried to open it again. It wouldn't budge.

"What'd you do, Potter?" Malfoy said, distracted. "What–is–wrong…urgh." He looked at Harry. "Open it."

"What?"

"You've obviously done something to it, so open it," said Malfoy. "We need to get out of here."

"I–"

"Wait," interrupted Ron, stepping in front of Harry. "Harry didn't do anything, okay? Knowing _your_ strength, you couldn't pick up air."

"What was that, Weasley?" said Malfoy, his gray eyes narrowing.

"You heard me, I said–"

Hermione interrupted Ron by clearing her throat loudly. 

Ron gave Hermione a nasty look. 

Hermione gave Ron an equally mean look. There was tense silence in the room.

"Well?" said Malfoy.

"Well what?"

"Well, are you going to open it? We can't very well stay in _here_ all day, now can we?"

"I'm not your servant, Malfoy," snapped Harry, grabbing Ron by his shirt, "open it yourself and go away."

Malfoy groaned. "I told you, Potter, it won't open."

"Hey, I have an idea," Ron said suddenly, "how about we use your head to open it?"

Pansy grabbed Malfoy by his robes. "He isn't worth fighting," she hissed in his ear, loud enough for Harry and all to hear.

Malfoy shrugged Pansy off. "Okay, Potter," he said, ignoring Ron, "if yout hink you're so smart, and sooo strong, you try it." He grinned evilly. "I'd love to see you try."

"Okay," said Harry. "I will." He marched to the compartment door, and grabbed it. He tugged. The door stood still. Harry tried again, and still the door didn't move. He grunted as he pulled for a third time to get it to slide open, and pulled so hard he fell back on his butt.

Draco snorted. "Typical."

"Well, we can't stay in here all day," Hermione said.

"We aren't," Ron snapped.

"We will if we can't get the door open," said Pansy, looking worried. "Ohh, what if we're in here for forever?"

"We can't be in here forever." Hermione gave Pansy a look.

"Hey," interrupted Malfoy. "What if we jump out the window?"

"While the train is moving?" 

Malfoy shrugged. "No, Granger, but go on right ahead. I meant when the train stops."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Malfoy. There has to be a way out…"

Hermione gasped. "Oh, but there is!" She took of her wand and ran to the door. "_Alohomora!_" she whispered. Nothing happened to the door.

"That's odd," said Ron.

Malfoy looked angry he hadn't thought of the spell first.

"Let me try it again," said Hermione. "_Alohomora!_" Then she tried to open the door, which, Harry thought, was like trying to make a boulder move. "Move, you stupid door, move!"

"Talking to it, Granger, won't make it move," drawled Malfoy.

"Shut up!" said Hermione tensely, her wand pointed at him. "Just be quiet."

Malfoy opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again.

"This isn't…it?" Harry said, gulping.

Hermione spun around and stared at him. "Have anymore suggestions?"

"You should ask them," Ron said, again stepping in front of Harry. "_Those_ two were the ones who shut it in the first place."

"We did?" cried Pansy. "If anyone, it was that idiot right there! He was the one who was doing the dare in the first place! He insisted on going back!"

"And you insisted on staying!" snapped Malfoy. "You tugged on my arm, you pulled me over, you insisted I do the dare and not go back until it's done! It's your fault, if anyone's!" He looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione. "And it's also these idiots fault also, because it's _their_ compartment door that's gotten stuck and they aren't doing a thing about it!"

Harry had never seen Malfoy so mad.

"Oh, Draco you look so cute when you're mad," Pansy said.

Malfoy grinned.

"Oh, stop it," muttered Ron. "You're making me sick. Look, why don't we just bang on the door? Someone's bound to come here."

"I guess we could," said Harry. 

"Right," said Malfoy, looking at Harry as if he were mad. "So we bang on the door and scream, 'help us, help us! Our door is stuck and the idiot who jammed it doesn't have any brains!' How's that?"

"You aren't helping, Malfoy," Hermione said. "Be quiet if you don't have something important to say."

Malfoy stood in the corner, a sulky look across his face.

"Okay." Hermione looked around. "Are we going to bang on the door or not?"

"I vote not," Malfoy said quickly.

"No one asked you," snapped Ron.

"Be quiet, Weasely," Pansy said angrily.

Hermione groaned. "None of you are helping. Look, it's probably just jammed."

"It never did before," muttered Harry. "It's probably just Malfoy tricking us or something."

"Me?" cried Malfoy, outraged. "I tried opening the stupid door! You felt it! It's like trying to move Weasley's mother!"

Harry automatically grabbed Ron.

There was, again, silence in the compartment. The only sound was Hermione sitting suddenly and saying, "I give up."

Pansy's hard face looked scared. Her lower lip quivered. "Are…are we going to die?"

"I'm all out of ideas," said Hermione hopelessly.

Ron gave the door a final shove. "Stupid door. Stupid Malfoy."

Malfoy glared at Ron, who sat down.

Suddenly, Harry heard something. It was like a faint roaring sound, kind of like a large truck passing by them. The roaring was growing louder and in about a few seconds, the window rattled.

"Did you feel that?" asked Harry.

"Feel what, Potter?"

"Feel…listen…"

Everyone was quiet, breathing very quietly as not to miss a thing. The roaring was very plain to hear.

"What is that?" Hermione whispered.

Harry shrugged.

AAAARRRAAAAHH, AARRRAAAHHH, ARRRRAAAHHH.

"I'm scared, Draco, hold me!" cried Pansy.

The roaring became louder and then the compartment door began to shake. The lights began to flick off and on, and when it first did, Hermione screamed. The floor shook, the sound grew louder till Harry's ears ached.

It was loud sound, the rattling!

"We're all going to die!" shrieked Pansy. "We're all going to die!"

CRRRAAAAGGGGHHHHH!

The compartment began to rattle, the walls, the window rattled and the floor vibrated. The light flicked on and off, and then stayed off. The five were in total, pitch black darkness.

"I'm scared," Harry heard Pansy cry over the noise.

"SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" screamed Malfoy. "SOMEBODY HELP US, PLEAAAASSEEE!"

"NO ONE CAN HELP US!" cried Ron. "SHUT UP!"

"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

CRRRAAAGGGGHH, UUURRRGGGHHNNN…

Harry suddenly felt the floor give way. He looked down–and to his total surprise –the floor was swirling around in a bright, hypnotizing blue and white. In the middle of the swirl was blackness, total dark. The swirl lit up the compartment, it made the door slide open, the glass busted in the window and in the light.

The roaring was so loud Harry thought he'd never be able to hear again. He thought it would never stop; it would just get louder and louder…the floor! It swirled bigger and brighter than ever, swallowing up the seats. Harry fell into the navy blue and off white swirl and went around and around in it. He could hear the others screaming as they were plunged in. 

"MAKE IT STOP!" screeched Pansy. "MAKE IT–"

Pansy's voice faded away. Harry couldn't even hear the roaring anymore. The bright colors were slowly getting dimmer. Harry was slowly closing his eyes, his body relaxing and flying around in the swirl.

Did anything else matter? No. What mattered was the swirl. The porthole to another time, another world. No one else was there. It was the only thing that was important…

Harry closed his eyes and allowed himself to be taken by the swirl. He enjoyed the sensation and slowly, he was unaware of things. And ever, ever so slowly, the world turned to darkness.

The ground beneath Harry was soft, like grass. His whole body ached from being thrown there. He felt like every bone in his body was broken; the only thing he could do was to lie there and wait for someone.

But was he even alive? 

Could he move or open his eyes?

Harry grunted to see if he could still grunt. Yes, he could do that. He moved his arm, as painful as it was, he was relived. There was just one more thing.

Harry's eyes fluttered open. The only thing he could see was the white clouds in a pale, blue sky above him. Birds sang from some tree around him. Cool wind rustled his hair, clothes and the grass around him.

Harry tilted to see if anyone else was there. Beside him, unconscious but still alive was Ron. Beyond him was Hermione and beyond her was a dirt road. A large, beautiful tree grew next to the road. 

Harry turned his head the other way and discovered Pansy and Malfoy. And the fact that all five of them were lying on a hill. A beautiful, grassy hill. He sat up and groaned, his head aching and spinning. He heard Ron groan beside him.

"Where…where are we, Harry?"

"I dunno," said harry vaguely, stunned that he survived such a thing. But now that survival and the fact that his friends were okay was the issue behind him, the thing now was, where was he?

Harry thought perhaps if he stood up, he could get a better look at what was beyond the hill. He, shakily, stood up and grabbed air for balance. But the sight that came into view was breathtaking and nearly made him sit down again.

Beyond the tall hill was a beautiful, large stone castle. It was huge, much bigger than Hogwarts, with hundreds of towers; around it was a huge, stone wall, a moat filled with bright, glistening water and a large iron gate. Shapes were on the stone in large columns, but from where Harry was, he couldn't make out what they were.

"Wow." He bent over and shoved Ron. "Ron, get up. You _have_ to see this."

"What, Ha…oh, my." Ron stood up quickly and stared. "I…I…I…Harry, where are we?" He turned and looked at Harry. "Really, where are we? We can't be…where…this is not Hogwarts."

Harry saw Hermione sitting up, speechless. She, too, went to stand by them.

"And no, Hermione, don't ask where we are," said Ron, "because I for one have no idea."

"I wasn't going to," Hermione said, stunned. "But you have to admit, that castle is beautiful. And imagine how large it is for us to see it at this distance! It must be the biggest castle I've seen!"

"I wonder who lives there," said Harry.

"Well, duh, Potter," came Malfoy's drawling voice. "Isn't it obvious? A king. A queen."

"Oh, great," muttered Ron. "Malfoy is awake; I was hoping he was dead."

"Hahaha."

Pansy suddenly groaned. "Where are we? Oh, my head…"

Ron said, "Don't start with that bit again, Pansy."

Pansy frowned. "I just wanted to know, that's all." She held out her hand. "Help me up, Draco."

Malfoy rolled his eyes and pulled Pansy up. She gasped as she saw the castle. "Wow!"

"You know," Hermione said, "maybe one of those villagers can tell us where we are."

"What villagers?"

"Those little brown huts. They have to be part of a village, don't they? Where there's a village, there's villagers."

"Right," sneered Malfoy. "How do you suppose we get there? Walk?"

"No, Malfoy, magically fly," snapped Ron, who looked like he wasn't in the mood to put up with Malfoy.

Malfoy made a face.

"Well, lets go then," said Harry. "The sooner we start, the better."

So Harry, Ron, Hermione, Pansy and an angry Malfoy set off down the grassy hill, which turned out steeper than any of them imagined. It was some climb down; Harry was panting when they reached the end of the hill and groaned when he saw what was there waiting for them.

"A forest?" panted Malfoy. "We come all the way down here for a forest?"

"Shut up, Malfoy," said Harry, gasping for breath. "There has to be a road somewhere around here…I think there was one up there."

"Oh, great."

Harry stared at Malfoy. "You want to climb back up there and see?"

"No," Malfoy sneered.

"Then shut up about it."

Hermione groaned. "Don't fight, it'll make it worse. Just…look, if the road was up there, it should be down here, shouldn't it?"

"Not exactly," said Ron. "It _is_ a steep climb. The road probably doesn't even think about going down here."

"It's worth a look," Hermione said, "if that's the only idea we have."

"I have to agree," said Harry.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "Yes, but who is going to go climb _back_ up there? Certainly not me."

"Actually," piped Hermione, "I thought we all could."

Malfoy turned his head roughly and stared at her. "Are you mad, Granger? We just climbed, down now you want to climb up? I mean, who's stupid idea was it to climb down in the first place?!" He pretended to gasp. "Why it was Granger, if I remember correctly!"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Ron snapped. "It was a good idea."

"A good idea not," sneered Malfoy.

"Be quiet, Malfoy, if you don't have anything useful to say!" said Hermione angrily. "Which I doubt you don't."

"Don't yell at Draco!" cried Pansy.

"Well, keep your idiot boyfriend's mouth shut then and I won't!"

Hermione and Pansy began to argue.

"You know," said Ron loudly, "how about we just shut up?"

Harry frowned. "Sounds good to me."

"Typical" was Malfoy's answer.

Hermione and Pansy eyed each other dangerously and fell silent.

"Good," said Harry. "Look, how about we all walk up there?"

"Why all of us?" interrupted Malfoy.

"Because," said Harry.

"Because…why?"

"Because…look, there isn't a reason and shut up, Malfoy," snapped Harry. "Okay, fine then, Ron and I walk up there and see and you girls can stay."

Malfoy cleared his throat.

"Problem, Malfoy?"

Malfoy's mouth curled into a sneering smile. "Not a thing, Potter."

"Right then," said Harry. "Come on, the sooner we get up there, the sooner Malfoy stops whining."

As Harry turned and walked up the hill, he heard Malfoy snort. "Don't get lost on the way, Potter!" he cackled after them.

Harry and Ron exchanged glances.

"You're…walking…too…fast…Potter, slow down," panted Malfoy. His put his hands on his knees and faced the ground. "But don't think I can't…can we please stop?"

"Nah, Malfoy," said Ron, his face sweating. "We're fine, aren't we, Harry?"

If it weren't for the situation, Harry would have said no. He would have given anything to sit down for a while, because walking back _up_ the hill was harder than walking down it. "I'm fine."

Malfoy looked as though he would cry. "You aren't human."

"Come on, Malfoy," Ron said in a sing song voice.

"Urgh."

They trudged up the hill a bit more till they finally came upon what was the beginnings of the top of the hill. Harry could hear Malfoy gasping for breath behind him and the hot, fairyland sun was beating hard down on his back.

"We're almost there, aren't we?" asked Malfoy from somewhere behind Harry.

"Almost," answered Harry.

"Almost," panted Malfoy. "What beautiful words…"

"Come _on_," said Ron. "We aren't…ahh, here we are. The top."

Malfoy made a sound behind them as they climbed harder over and then why were there, at the top.

"Can we sit now?" whined Malfoy.

"Sit down your whole life for all I care," snapped Harry. "Just stay out of the way."

"Anything," Malfoy said, falling to the ground.

"Right," said Ron. "Now, where was the road again?"

"Over there, I do believe," Harry said, pointing. "By that tree. Yeah, the tall, really green one."

"They're all tall and green, Potter," muttered Malfoy. He made a face. "Oh, that's right. I'm not here."

Harry ignored Malfoy. "Yeah, look, it's dirt," he said. He and Ron exchanged glances and dashed quickly over to the tree. Off a few feet from it was a long, dirt road that took a violent turn east and snaked off into a handful of trees.

"Ha!" called Malfoy. "Told you!"

Harry didn't feel like saying shut up. In fact, he wanted to listen, because he could almost hear the soft clopping sounds of horses walking along the road. He was sure it was his imagination…

"Hey, Harry, you hear that?"

"You hear it too?"

"Yeah, listen."

The clopping got louder and he looked down the road. Far down the road, Harry could see dust flying up and two large, brown horses walking at a fast pace.

Ron saw them too. "Oh, crap, I think someone's coming," he said.

"I think so too."

"Well duh!" called Malfoy distantly. He was still sitting on the grass.

"Get up, Malfoy!" Ron snapped instantly. "Someone's coming!"

Malfoy's eyes flashed and he scrambled to his feet and managed to make it over. He peered around the tree curiously. "Who? Who's coming? People?"

"Villagers?" suggested Harry. "Whoever lives here, the king, the queen? Who knows, but yeah, people, Malfoy."

"Hahaha."

The clopping was getting louder by the second; the horses were in very plain view now.

"I wonder if they're friendly people?" whispered Harry.

Clop, clop, clop…

"I want to look again," breathed Malfoy suddenly, swinging his head around the tree for another look.

"No!" hissed Ron, making a mad grab for Malfoy's robes. It was too late. Malfoy's who body was visible from their distance. 

"I think they saw you!" Ron said sharply. He kicked Malfoy hard in the shins. "Don't do that again."

Malfoy swung a leg and tagged Ron in the stomach. Ron fell over onto his knees.

"Ha, serves you right," said Malfoy triumphantly.

"Don't look so cocky," gasped Ron. He reached a hand forward and grabbed Malfoy's leg in one swift, smooth movement. Malfoy went down on top of Ron, with Ron punching the living daylights out of Malfoy, Malfoy kicking back, Harry standing to the side, frozen. 

"Stop!" he said suddenly, realizing that the people with horses would past their tree any second and he was also sure they heard their grunts. Harry grabbed Ron by his shirt and pulled him off of Malfoy, who was still violently swinging a fist in the air, with black eye and a cut above his other eye that looked like a stick had done it.

Ron looked worse. Although he didn't have a black eye, his nose was bleeding and so was his lower lip. He was still trying to kick Malfoy.

So Harry kicked Malfoy for Ron. "Be–"

"Stop! Who are you, outsiders?"

"Busted," moaned Ron.

Harry saw a shadow was over him and had a very bad feeling. He whirled around to only be facing a young, mean looking man, pointing an oddly shaped sword (was it sword? Harry couldn't exactly tell) and narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you, outsiders?"

"Er…" said Harry searching his mind for words, except for the fact that his mind was a complete blank. "Erm…we're…"

"Well?"

"That's…that's Ron, Draco Malfoy and…I-I'm Harry," stammered Harry nervously.

"It's not your names I am interested in finding out," snapped the man. "I want to know who you are, your names I care less about. Are there others of you about?" He looked up at the tree, expecting to find more people hidden there.

Harry, Ron and Malfoy exchanged glances.

"Actually," piped up Ron, "we're alone…"

"Too much hesitation," said a man in the back, on a large white horse.

"Quiet!" snapped the man on the brown horse, the one questioning Harry. "I did not grant you permission to speak!" He turned back to Harry. "But he's right. There has to be others of you. An army." He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. "The queen doesn't like outsiders."

"Oh, give up, Johnson," said the man on the white horse. "They're just kids, what kind of an army could they get together?"

The man snorted and the way his nostrils flared reminded Harry of Professor McGonagall when she got mad. "I say there are others about. Do you realize what kind of danger this puts us in?"

Malfoy snorted. "Hello? We're still here?"

The man, Johnson as he was called, ignored Malfoy. "Actually, it's not up to me for punishment. Perhaps the queen could see what to do?"

There was a murmur amongst the men.

"Of course it is!" cried the same man.

Johnson's mouth curled into a mean smile. "Jestaon, DelKep, tie them up. The rest of you, the others have to be around here some place." He said something and his horse ran forward. The rest of the men did the same.

Jestaon and DelKep turned out to be the stupidest, ugliest biggest men Harry had ever seen. It was liked looking at an older Crabbe and Goyle, except in goofier clothing.

"Get the other ones, Jestaon," grunted the one who had to be DelKep. He had his hands on Harry. "I'll get this one."

Harry gulped as he tied large, scratchy robes around his hands and feet. He hoisted Harry up on his own enormous horse and Jestaon lifted Malfoy and Ron on his own.

They started off towards the castle.

If the castle had appeared three times bigger than Hogwarts from the hill, Harry had been wrong. From up close, the castles seemed five even six times bigger than Hogwarts with at least three hundred towers, a hundred foot tall stone wall, a large iron gate and enormous stone rabbits were carved on top of two columns at the entrance.

"Wow," breathed Harry. DelKep accidentally jabbed Harry in the stomach.

They clanked over a heavy, large dark wooden bridge. Underneath the bridge was dark, glassy smooth water with a slightly green tinge. A creature with large red and blue eyes and sharp, gray glistening spikes down it's slimy back stared up at Harry and groaned, took in water and snorted it back out through it's nose.

Harry made a slight face.

"This is where _you_ get off," grunted DelKep. He got off his horse and took Harry easily off the horse. For a wild second, Harry was sure DelKep was going to throw Harry into the moat with the odd creature, but it turned out he slung Harry over his shoulder like a sack and opened the gate.

Harry was confused. The bridge wouldn't have been there. It would have been up and there wouldn't have been an easy-to-open door or iron gate. Or stone rabbits, of all things.

Within the walls was a beautiful sight. Surrounded by bricks, trees of all colors grew up from the ground, bearing fruits like bananas, apples, strawberries and small melons. Orange, pink and yellow berries grew on a pale purple bush in the way, far off in the corner. Harry also noticed the fruits were in different colors.

But plants, fruit and berries weren't the only things there. In the huge courtyard was a large fountain with a rabbit in the middle, pale blue water spewing up from the top of it. 

And the castle itself, oh, it was so big. Bulky wooden doors, the exact same color as the bridge were in the direct middle. Harry titled his head and saw way up high stone windows. A huge balcony stretched across the whole castle.

"Get a move on," snapped DelKep, shoving Harry forward.

He knocked on the large doors and to Harry's surprise, they swung open immediately. Harry thought for a second perhaps the doors were powered by a charm of some sort; he thought this till he saw twelve servants lined up along the walls, tugging on rope.

The castle was something out of a fairy tale. 

The huge room was dark gray stone with dozens of different doors lined along it. In the middle was a throne, a purple, green and black one, lined with jewels and had a crimson seat. It stood on top of a tiny stair case.

"So where's the queen?" asked Harry impatiently. He didn't exactly feel like doing this right now. 

"That's you not to know and me to find out," grunted DelKep quietly.

_Sorry,_ thought Harry angrily. Then he took the extra time to look around the castle. _This is truly beautiful._

He looked back to DelKep to see what he was doing. Perhaps Harry could have slipped by DelKep, as thick as he was he probably wouldn't notice it. But DelKep noticed Harry looking at him.

Harry looked then around again. Never had he been in such a spot of trouble like right then. He wondered where Ron and Hermione were. Malfoy and Pansy he cared less about, but he stilled worried a tiny bit about them.

"What are we waiting on?" snapped Harry suddenly. He surprised himself so much he clamped a hand over his mouth and watched as DelKep turned his thick neck to look at Harry. Was he going to harm Harry?

But DelKep just grunted in a very troll like manner. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, but not for long.

Far off in the distance, perhaps down one of the dark hallways, Harry could hear trumpets. Then they got louder and soon the room filled with the sound as men filed into the room. Some were merely marching, other playing instruments and very few were hopping forward, scattering pink flowers everywhere. Amongst the men, through the sea of them, a woman was visible.

She was wearing a long, large purple dress that puffed out and a robe of crimson. Her hair was way past her behind and the color of wheat. On top of her head three metallic rings held a small portion of hair. They were visible through the enormous, golden crown she was wearing, which was covered in diamonds and other jewels. She had no shoes on and Harry could see her small, white feet underneath all of her heavy clothing. She seemed to have difficulty with it all on, also; she tripped as she walked up the tiny staircase to her throne. And there, with the superior, smug look on here face, evil eyes and a sneering smile, she sat; Harry knew instantly she was the queen.

"What have we here?" she said quietly and looked beyond Harry and saw Malfoy and Ron entering with Jestaon. Harry saw Malfoy had a look of delight across his face as soon as he saw the queen.

"Outsiders, my queen," answered DelKep instantly.

The queen's eyes narrowed. "I don't doubt it, with the bad job you all do."

DelKep and Jestaon bowed. "We are sorry."

"I'll let it go," she said.

"Yes, thank you, my queen."

The queen then snorted. "So, they are outsiders? Were there others, and don't tell me that fool Johnson is out looking for them, because he never does…so, you think you're brave enough to travel into the Land of Felfhaln? You do know outsiders are usually punished by death?"

"Actually," spoke up Jestaon, "I was hoping we could keep them in the dungeons for life."

"Death is the usual punishment," she said, as though her mind was made up. 

There was a sudden loud clatter.

The queen turned her head sharply to the right and saw that a group of servants were all standing there in a doorway, watching. They all looked as though they would cry any moment then.

"What…are you doing here?" snapped the queen.

Several of them started stammering answers.

"SILENCE!" roared the queen. "I will tell when you are to speak! And I will also tell you when you are to come in here! I did not wish for any of you present at this time, so your smartest choice would to get back where you filthy things belong!"

The servants looked liked the queen has complimented them and ran off down a dark hallway, apologizing.

The queen kept her eyes on the door for a very long time, a look of disgust across her face. "Horrible things," she sneered. She turned her head slowly back to Harry, Ron and Malfoy. "So, the thing is, what shall we do with outsiders who don't seem to want to behave?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" spluttered Harry suddenly, surprising himself, Jestaon, DelKep, Ron and Malfoy. The servants holding the ropes all gasped suddenly.

"What did you say?"

"I say I don't understand what I've done wrong here," said Harry. "I woke up and I was here. And I don't even know where here is."

The queen narrowed her eyes. "You know, you're a very brave little boy," she observed. "Yet bravery is stupid in some cases, like the one in which involves a little boy talking back to a queen."

"I just–"

"SILENCE!" the queen screeched suddenly, spit flying from her mouth. "DON'T SPEAK UNLESS I TELL YOU TO!"

"I don't even know who you are or where I am!" yelled Harry back. "I just wanted to know and I don't even see the crime here!"

"You don't have to!" the queen cried. "The crime is just there, you don't have to see what crime is there!"

"So you're saying I didn't do anything?" asked Harry meekly, waiting for the queen to scream some more.

The queen was silent.

"Remove this filthy creature from my sight," she spat. "Lock him and his little…friends up in the dungeon. We'll decide his fate later."

DelKep grabbed Harry roughly by the shoulders. "Let's go."

Although DelKep was having an easy time holding onto Harry, Jestaon was having a hard time holding onto Ron and Malfoy at the same time. Malfoy was kicking and screaming, "I don't want to die! Let me go!" and Ron kept trying to slip through his arms.

Harry tried to struggle, but DelKep was too large. He threw Harry to the floor and drug him across the cold stone. Harry knew it was useless fighting against him, so he went silently.

He could still hear Malfoy screaming.

The dungeons turned out to be filthy, dark, damp underground rooms. Chains and things hung from the ceilings and walls. The floor was disgusting; bones littered a corner, dust as thick as water was piled up. The walls were damp with water dripping everywhere and slime.

Harry knew this wasn't going to be a favorite place of his.

DelKep hung Harry up and the things around Harry's hands stung so bad Harry wanted to scream out and kick DelKep to stop, but he didn't and DelKep went to put Harry's feet in separate chains. They were, as Harry suspected they would be, very uncomfortable.

There hung Harry. Panic coursed through him. He knew who situation was hopeless. There was no escape and his only resort was Hermione and Pansy, who had more than likely been captured. 

How could Harry have gotten into this mess? Everything was happening so sudden, it made Harry's head spin to try to fathom it. The swirl, the kingdom and their harsh rules seemed very unfair to Harry. He hadn't even done anything wrong.

It was very lonely and quiet in the dungeon. The only light came from under the heavy rough wooden door and a small window above head with bars in it. Harry wondered if this was what Azkaban, the wizard prison, was like. But he figured Azkaban was worse; there were the creepy, hooded dementors, the creatures who sucked the happiness out of a place. Harry felt like there was dementors present; he hadn't ever felt so hopeless.

Harry heard a sound outside the hallway, like someone struggling. There were muffled voices, and a harsh, troll-like one. One was shrill and mad, the other Harry recognized instantly as Ron's. There was a loud sound and an "ow!" It sounded like Malfoy and Ron were kicking Jestaon.

The door was thrust open suddenly and Jestaon threw, literally threw, Ron and Malfoy into the dungeon. Malfoy landed on a pile of bones. Jestaon lumbered into the dungeon and chained Malfoy and Ron near Harry. He grunted something, whirled around and left.

The first words out of Ron's mouth were curse words, of course, as Harry suspected. 

"…that stupid little…oooh…"

Malfoy, however, took this in a very childish manner.

"What are we going to do?" he asked Harry wildly. "We can't die…I can't die! I'm a Malfoy! I can't die! Do something!"

"He can't do anything!" hollered Ron. "Just shut up!"

"But I'm scared!" whined Malfoy, in a very un-Malfoy-ish way. "We have to do something…maybe Pansy and Granger will find us."

Harry, who was nearly as panicky as Malfoy was, snorted. "I doubt it, Malfoy," he said, "I'm sure Hermione and Pansy were already captured by now."

Malfoy look out a small splutter of terror.

It seemed like hours passed in the dungeon. The light from the window was long gone, as it was night time. Harry had lost all track of time; his stomach growled from hunger constantly and he felt like smacking Malfoy to shut him up.

But Malfoy drifted off to sleep. Harry wondered how Malfoy could sleep hanging on a wall. But when Ron fell asleep, Harry's eyelids got heavier and he soon felt himself dozing off.

Harry suddenly began to drift off to sleep…his eyes closed and then he kicked the wall to wake himself up again. He needed to stay awake, though. He didn't know why he needed to, but he felt like he needed to.

The dungeon was quiet and still and boring without Ron's screaming and Malfoy's whining. There was also no way Harry was going to sleep when there were bones piled up in a corner. Had those people died in the dungeon or were merely servants who died and were thrown in? Harry felt it wasn't a subject to think about right before bed.

The chains were also getting very uncomfortable. Harry's feet felt very odd, perhaps tried from hanging on the wall for so long. His arms ached to fall to his side and his body ached for a bed…he had never felt so uncomfortable in his life, not even at the Dursely's.

Harry began to close his eyes. The whole dungeon began to get smaller as he closed his tired eyes. By closing his eyes, Harry felt himself fall deeply and instantly to sleep. He no long felt the cold pain on his arms or legs…he felt tired and he needed sleep.

Harry opened his eyes and smelled a sweet smell. Flowers surrounded him, tall, tall flowers that shot up into the sky. The ground underneath him was softer than a bed or anything else. It was the softest grass he'd ever slept on.

He felt very relaxed under the flowers. They blocked the sun from his eyes and through their giant petals, he could see a cloudless sky, the blue shining very brightly and very bright were Harry's spirits.

The dungeon was long gone from Harry's thoughts now. He sat up in the grass and finally managed to stand and look across the fairyland. Everything was beautiful, sweet and birds chirped.

It reminded Harry of when he first awoke in the nightmare he was currently in, in real life, of course.

He walked through the flowers. As he brushed by them, they sprinkled things down on his head. Glittery stuff fell from the flowers and onto Harry's head, giving Harry a very stupid, sleepy, giddy and happy feeling. He literally skipped through the tall tree-like flowers.

"What an odd dream," muttered Harry vaguely. He had no care for other things; perhaps it was like the porthole swirl: nothing else mattered. The only thing that mattered was his wonderful, lovely, fun-filled dream.

"Hello flowers," said Harry, "how are you today?"

Of course, the flowers didn't answer back, but Harry didn't care. He shrugged and continued to wander around. He had no idea what he was looking for, but it was fun away. Fun to get away from the slimy, wet dungeon of which he was sleeping in earlier.

Was this another porthole and not a dream? Harry felt happy; perhaps is _was_ a reality. But what kind of place was it, a place where giant flowers made you giddy and happy and forget all your troubles?

Or perhaps it was an escape for Harry, a mental escape. A place, for Harry to escape when he went crazy inside the dungeon…

"No," Harry said aloud. No, his happy dream wasn't to be interrupted by his worries; he would stay and feel happy for as long as he could, even, as Harry decided giddily, if he was here the rest of his life.

Harry fell back into a particularly soft bed of flowers, filled with small, beautiful flowers with sweet smells. 

_BONG!_

Harry jerked and sat up right in the flowers and was unaware that grass stuck out in his hair. The sound…what was it?

_BONG!_

There it was again and louder and more vivid this time. It sounded…Harry couldn't quite…

_BONG!_

Harry stood up very suddenly and saw a shadow fall over him. He turned around and saw the land not filled with flowers, but of tall, dark trees and Harry could see the sky was a dark, white, and black grayish color. It looked stormy and Harry blinked. Perhaps…what was…?

There was a brilliant flash of lightning across the dark sky. Harry jumped and looked around for shelter…he could see nothing but trees. Harry saw another flash of lightning and saw it strike the ground and the lightning grew taller, wider and brighter till it flowed a pale yellowish white.

It began to move and looked exactly like a tornado: one made of lightning. It started towards Harry, burning grass and shooting out large bolts of lightning for hundreds of miles. Harry started to run, but his legs were made of cement; the lightning was getting closer; the loud bong sound…echoing…

Harry woke with a start. It took him a full minute to remember where he was and when he did, he felt an instant rush of sadness and felt all excitement drain from him. The dungeon, the cold, dark, damp dungeon, was where Harry was sleeping. His arms and legs…they felt odd from being in that position for so long.

Harry tried to go back to sleep, but it was useless; his eyes were already open widely. He tried to close them again, but no luck. So he sighed and decided to look around the dungeon. It wasn't as dark as before, like morning was a few hours away or the moon was bright, but Harry guessed moonlight, because on the opposite wall, white-blue moonlight hit it.

He wished he could have moved his arms and legs. They ached and felt quiet odd from being attached to the wall and the ceiling. The Harry wondered if Malfoy and Ron's limbs hurt like his; he was sure they did.

Then a thought crossed Harry's mind: where was Hermione and Pansy? Did the queen go ahead and kill them? Where they in a different dungeon? Harry was sure that the castle has lots, but…still, why would they be in somewhere different.

"…you get in there…"

The voice, though far off, was easy to be heard. Harry breathed quietly, as not to miss anything.

"I don't want to! Where's Harry and Ron?"

"Where's my Draco?!"

The voices were muffled suddenly. Harry's spirits rose; it was Hermione out there!

"Get in…"

"I'll bite you!" came Pansy's voice from outside the dungeon door.

There was more muffled talking, then a rough male voice said, "Get in there or I'll have you killed right now."

There was again still silence, except for the sudden creaking as the door opened and Hermione and Pansy were drug down into the dungeon and chained on the opposite side of Harry.

Harry looked over them. Hermione grinned as she saw Harry, but it turned into a grim smile. Pansy was starting to cry hysterically. 

"You can't keep us in here, you bad man!" she cried as the man closed the door. "I have a boyfriend who's rich and he could do things to you!" Tears streamed down her face as she put her head down and feel silent.

"Harry!" whispered Hermione. "Are you okay?"

"I'm…fine," said Harry, "although my legs and arms feel a bit odd…" Something suddenly dawned on Harry. "Hermione!"

"What?"

"I just got a thought…how will we be rescued if you're here?" He closed his eyes, the terrible truth spreading on him.

Hermione was quiet for a second. "I-I don't know, Harry," she said finally. "I'm not sure…I've…wait, I've got my wand!"

"Ex…can you reach it?"

"No," said Hermione, suddenly gloomy.

The dungeon was oddly quiet.

"Have you been asleep?" asked Hermione, obviously wanting to make conversation.

"I was," muttered Harry.

"I don't see how," piped up Pansy from Hermione's right side. "These things hurt!"

Harry saw Hermione roll her eyes in the dark. 

"So," said Harry. "How did you get here?"

Hermione shrugged. "They're a bunch of morons, they are. It took them hours to find us…I suspect they threw us in because they caught us doing magic."

"Magic?"

"Well, we were trying to make a fire…honestly, Harry, we thought we were dead. You never came back…and I…well, I had the most horrible feeling."

"Worse than now?"

"Can anything be worse than now?" asked Hermione quietly. "We stayed there and waited for about two hours and then Pansy suggested we go looking for you, so we climbed up the hill…by then it was nighttime and cold. We kept thinking we heard things, we thought it was either you or Ron or Malfoy."

"Did they find you as did magic?"

"No," answered Hermione, an odd quiet in her voice. "They saw the fire and instantly thought magic. I'd had my wand put in my pocket long before then."

The dungeon was, again, quiet, except for Pansy sobbing and Ron snoring. 

"Yeah," said Harry for no reason. "Well, here we are, huh?"

Hermione gave a small sob.

"Oh, don't cry Hermione!" Harry said. He fell silent; he felt like crying himself. "You never know…maybe we'll rescued…" he sighed. "But I doubt it."

"I think so too," came a voice.

Harry whipped his head around and saw Malfoy peering sleepily at him. "Your voice woke me up, Potter. Honestly, you'd wake the dead if you were any louder."

Harry frowned slightly at this. "What do you–"

"Draco? Draco, is that?" cried Pansy as a blind person would. "Are you awake?"

Malfoy sighed. "Yeah."

"Oh, Draco, are you okay? Where are you, Draco? I can't see you!"

"Of course you can't," said Malfoy tolerantly. "I'm all the way across the dungeon."

"Oh!" said Pansy. "It's so nice to hear your voice, I've been listening to Granger and Potter for the past fifteen minutes!"

"Shhh!" hissed Hermione. "You're yelling."

"If I didn't yell, how could Draco hear me?"

"I'm sure he can hear you fine without shouting," Hermione pointed out.

Pansy fell silent.

Hermione turned back to Harry. "Were you saying something?"

"No," answered Harry gloomily, "I was talking to Malfoy."

Harry must have fallen back to sleep as some point in the night; he awoke the next day feeling even stiffer and odder than before. Sunlight was filled in the dungeon. He must have also been the last one to awake; Ron, Hermione, Pansy and Draco were already awake.

Hermione saw Harry was awake. "Hey, Harry."

"Hmmm."

Hermione sighed. "Malfoy just said he reckons we'll be killed sometime today, I believe. They can't keep us locked in here for forever."

Harry bit his lip. There wasn't any point in getting sad or having any other emotion; he felt empty and hopeless and depressed. "Can they keep us locked up forever?"

Harry looked over to see Ron shrug.

Sometime later that day, nearly nightfall, Harry felt so hungry he could have eaten anything he could get his hands on, and he didn't care whether it was edible or not. 

The day had been a boring one. They were in there all day arguing, talking or, in Pansy's case, screaming and crying.

Ron yelled and cursed a lot; Hermione said "Ron!" about every five minutes. Malfoy was very quiet, and Pansy just cried.

Harry talked a bit, but other than that, he'd rather have died than stayed in there another day. He pitied the poor people before him who had died in there; imagine staying in there for about twenty years. Harry thought perhaps a person would go mad within the first year, if they lived that long.

He wondered all day what to do. Hermione couldn't reach her wand; so doing some type of spell was out of the question. No one except for a few people came there that day to see if they were still in there. Harry wondered why they even bothered; there was no escape.

"You know," said Malfoy, snapping Harry instantly from his thoughts, "I think I've gone mad."

"Good for you," muttered Ron. "No one gives a crap."

"I do," snapped Malfoy. "It's my mind, you know."

"It's your mind, I don't care," said Ron, annoyed, "we really don't care."

"I care," sniffed Pansy.

"She cares, see?" Malfoy said importantly.

"Yes, but that's Pansy he's talking about," whispered Ron to Harry.

Night came faster than it had last night. Soon, all of them were bathed in darkness and little light under the door was visible, but besides that, there was no light. The moon wasn't even out.

"Here we are again," muttered Hermione. "Another night. Yipee."

"I enjoy your enthusiastic attitude, Granger," said Malfoy darkly.

"Shut up," snapped Ron.

"Make me."

"Oh, I'll make you all right," said Ron. He struggled to wriggle free. He cursed loudly when he figured out he couldn't.

Malfoy laughed loudly and Ron swung a leg and discovered Malfoy was in kicking distance ("This changes everything!" said Ron, watching Malfoy groan.)

Around three hours later, Harry began to hear a voice outside the door. At first he thought he was going crazy, but Ron said he heard a voice also. 

The voice was getting louder.

"–okay, take a right…right here…then…ahhh."

Harry turned and caught Ron's eye. "There's someone outside," he mouthed.

There were footsteps outside door and quiet clinking of keys. A second later, the door opening slowly, bathing everyone in yellow lantern light. There, in the doorway, stood a boy no older than Harry, looking very triumphant indeed.

Harry felt excitement he hadn't felt in days. Perhaps the boy was there to help him! Then a thought struck Harry: what if the boy was there to take them to wherever they were to be killed?

Harry shook away this thought. Of course he wasn't, he was thinner and smaller than Harry and surely he couldn't bring five fifteen-year-olds somewhere, could he?

He looked around the dungeon and spotted Harry. "Don't be scared," whispered, closing the door behind him. "I'm here to help."

Pansy started crying. 

The boy stepped down into the dungeon and lifted a key to the chains. Each of them unlocked and one by one, everyone fell to the ground with a dull thud, by tried to do it quietly.

When everyone was standing up finally, the boy said, "Listen, I don't have much time right now to tell you this. Call me Perian. I'm here to help you escape."

"Wait…!" said Harry. "Do you know why we're even here?"

"Yes," answered Perian quickly. "I'll explain everything later. Just…just follow me." He turned, grabbed the keys from the floor and walked up to the door. It creaked open quietly. "Shhh."

They tiptoed down the quiet, dimly lit hallway after Perian. He explained everything quietly.

"Magic isn't welcome here," Perian said quickly. "Most people frown upon it and if word got out wizards or witches or whatever you are were here, the queen and the kingdom and all of us would be in huge trouble."

"With who?" asked Harry.

"The villagers," answer Perian. "I think you've probably read about kings and queens of olden times and how things were run. It isn't run like that here. The villagers pick the queen. Even if she's the youngest from all the daughters or even a cousin or friend. And the gets to pick a king. There are princesses and princes and all that, though. Queen Sentra has three children of her own."

"Does she have a husband?" whispered Hermione.

Perian went on as though he didn't hear Hermione. "See, they'd be in trouble. She'd be thrown out of the land, banished. She wouldn't see her family or her friends again if this got out. So that fire you started look like magic." He looked at Harry. "They threw you in here because you were an outsider."

"A what?"

"Someone from another kingdom. Another place. No one knows anyone from any other place besides here. Outsiders aren't trusted. That's why you were imprisoned; they had absolutely no idea where you came from."

"Is there a way out?" asked Ron.

"I know one," said Perian. He was now speaking quickly and in shorter sentences. "Just…follow me."

They were quiet and followed Perian down the dark hallway. Creepy, old paintings hung on the dirty, stone walls and seemed to stare down at Harry and everyone. Twice they had a close call with someone.

"Almost to the passageway," whispered Perian.

Almost there. Harry couldn't believe it. Just about an hour ago he'd been sitting a dark dungeon, quietly dreading his death and wishing he could have been out of there. Now that thought was happening.

Perian suddenly flung his arm out to stop everyone. "Shhh," he said. "I thought I hear someone."

Everyone was quiet and held their breath. Perian was right; far, far down the hall, Harry could hear footsteps.

"Oh," said Hermione.

Perian looked scared and then beckoned them forward, quicker than they were going earlier. Then they heard the footsteps also speed up, so they broke into a jog. And then, when they were jogging down a particularly curvy hallway, the feet behind them hit hard on the long maroon rug.

"They know we're here!" hissed Hermione as she cut around a corner, barely missing a table.

"I know that!" said Perian loudly. "I don't know how…who it is…this corner, we're almost there!"

_We better be,_ thought Harry, who had a bad feeling about the whole thing now.

Perian, ahead, stopped very abruptly. Everyone knocked into the person in front of them and knocked Perian forward. He didn't seem to mind; he jumped up as quickly as he'd fallen and helped them into a hole in the wall.

"Hurry!" he said quickly as Hermione scrambled in. "Come on!"

Harry was right behind Hermione and ended up being the last one. So when he tried climbing into the hole, he saw a shadow on the wall. Over come with curiosity, he turned and saw someone standing there.

"P-P-Perian…" he said weakly.

"What…get…oh…" he turned and had the worst look across his face. "IN! HURRY! GO! GO!"

Harry climbed in so quickly he tripped and fell backwards onto Perian. Perian got very panicky and pushed Harry off of him. They both ran and tried to get into the hole at the same time, but the person spoke…her voice made Harry freeze.

"You will no escape," she said calmly. She walked down the hall quietly and had a very superior, triumphant look across her face. "Not while I am the queen and it looks like I am."

Perian gripped the back of Harry's shirt hard, shaking with fear. Harry didn't ask why he was so scared; it was just the queen.

"And I see you're escaping," she continued in a low, silky voice full of silent, contained anger. "This I won't have."

Perian made a noise.

"And now I see you need to be punished." Queen Sentra looked at them, as though deciding what she should do with them. "Yes, a slow, painful death would do very nicely, yes?"

Neither of them answered.

"I see."

Harry watched her closely, to see what she would do. He thought maybe she'd call someone to come and get them and bring them back to the dungeon. Or she'd do something herself, but how could when there were two of them?

But Harry got his answer quickly.

She made a face, a very odd face and slowly, her eyes turned red. Her mouth opened and she ran her tongue over sharp, white fangs. There was a weird look about her face, like hunger.

"Run," Perian whispered. "I got you into this, I should…oh…"

"I'm not leaving," Harry said. "And–"

"I can hear you whispering!" said Queen Sentra, her creepy vampire eyes on Harry.

"You didn't tell me she was a vampire," Harry finished.

"There's no need to run, boys," she said. "Yes, I could hear you. Your death will only be worse the more you try to escape me." She took to the air and began to descend upon Harry and Perian.

"RUN!"

Harry climbed to his feet and barreled after Perian and he didn't have a clue where he was going; he just wanted to get there.

"This way, this way, this way!" Perian called from up ahead. "This way!"

Harry took a sharp turn. He could still hear Queen Sentra behind him, flying. He looked up and saw something that made him scream very loud. Queen Sentra was right above him!

Harry put on more speed, if that was possible, and shot down the hall, not daring to look up or behind him; but, of course, he didn't need to, he could hear her flying above him, an odd whooshing sound he never wanted to hear again in his life.

_Don't look back, don't look back, don't stop,_ thought Harry.

There was a sudden sweeping sound and the queen had tried to jump onto Harry. Harry dodged and caused Queen Sentra to be hurtled into the wall. She cried out in pain as Harry tore down the hall.

And even though Harry never looked back, he had an eerie feeling the queen–

Yank, WHAM!

Harry's heart hammered in his chest and scared him half to death as someone grabbed Harry by his shirt and pulled him into a hole. A door closed suddenly and there a thud and a scream of pain. Harry suspected the queen had tried to bit him.

In the very few seconds before he found out who it was, wild thoughts ran through Harry's mind. Who…who as it?

"A-a-all right?" breathed a very familiar voice and Harry knew who it was at once.

"Perian!" Harry said, breathing hard. "I thought you hadn't made it."

Perian smiled grimly. "Yeah," he said. "We thought you hadn't either."

"How'd you get in here?" asked Harry, fearing what had happened to the others.

"T-this was one opened by someone," said Perian.

"By who?"

Perian jerked his head towards Ron, Hermione, Malfoy and Pansy, crouched in the corner.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and rested his head against the hard wall behind him. For the first time in Harry's life, he was actually glad to see Malfoy there. 

"So she's a vampire," said Hermione, almost as if she were impressed. 

It had been about an hour since they'd been cramped into the wall in total darkness. It almost hurt Harry's eyes, the darkness, but not any of them dared to go out there. They could occasionally hear Queen Sentra bumping against the wall, trying to get in.

"It's bad for us when she's hungry at night," said Perian, and after his voice came the smallest of sighs. "About seven of us hide here; the rest in the kitchen."

"How'd she get this way?" Harry asked.

Perian shrugged. "I dunno, but she killed her husband about three weeks ago. It was shocking to find out, everyone loved King Frelt. Of course, no one in the village knows that she's a vampire. The told everyone he'd just died, no cause, he just died. It was hard to believe at first, he was young–"

"She has children?" interrupted Hermione suddenly.

"Yeah, three," answered Perian. "I don't know why. The poor things hide in the kitchen with us at night."

"That's awful," gasped Hermione, appalled. "She hasn't tried to…bite them, has she?"

Perian sighed. "Why'd you think they hide?"

Even though it was pitch black, Harry could tell what kind of expression Hermione had on her face.

"Has she tried to bite anyone else in the village?" asked Ron quietly.

Perian was oddly quiet. "I…I don't really know. But sometimes people go missing. And the people of the village are a bit…ah…naïve, I would say."

Hermione snorted. "I would think so. People going missing. The king dead."

Harry heard a whooshing sound, as if Perian were waving his hand in the air. "Some of them know, I'd imagine. Some are bit dumb and they don't want to believe it."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Think she's still out there?"

Malfoy made a noise. "No, Potter, she went to have tea with Santa Claus. Of _course_ she's still out there."

"We didn't ask you to comment, Malfoy," snapped Ron instantly.

Harry could feel Ron shifting, moving towards Malfoy. Harry and Hermione grabbed him.

"Not in here," said Hermione. "You can't even see each other, for goodness sakes."

Ron sat back down again.

"But you know, seriously, think we should risk it?" asked Harry. "I mean, she can't get us all at one time, can she? If we all go out at the same time…"

"But what if get one of us, Potter?" said Malfoy. "I mean, say for instance she gets Granger and you know how much that would upset Weasel."

"What are you saying, Malfoy?" Ron snapped angrily.

Malfoy let out a sneering laugh. "You don't get my point? What if she gets _one_ of us–" ("Hope it's you," interrupted Ron.) "–we'd have to go on without them. I know we all need to get out, but we're risking it…"

Harry sighed. "Malfoy's right. We may all get out, but she still might get one of us."

"Well," started Hermione, "you're both kind of right."

Harry turned to look at Hermione and remembered he couldn't see her. "What do you mean, we're both right?"

"Well, you are," pointed out Hermione. "Your plan is right, but then we'd be risking it."

"Hmmm…what if we let Malfoy get at the end?" Ron suggested. Malfoy, for once, ignored him.

"I say we go for it," said Perian. "I mean, what else could we do?"

"Send Weasel out there to distract her and then made a run for it," said Malfoy and Harry could tell he was probably smirking.

"Ha ha ha."

"No, seriously," Perian said. "I say we go for it. We climb out and run for our lives. I know how to get out of this castle like the back of my hand."

"Well, we can't travel through the wall or is this just for hiding?" asked Hermione.

"Hiding."

Ron cursed. "Okay, so we let Perian out first and then Harry, me, Hermione, Pansy and then Malfoy. And as Malfoy gets out, we tie him there and let Queen Sentra have him."

Hermione clapped her hands together rather too enthusiastically, but her voice was grim. "Shall we now?"

Harry let out a loud sigh. "We shall." He moved to let Perian get close to the door. Perian began to open it and yellow and white light creeping into the room as the door creaked. It was now open enough to see outside and outside there was no sign of Queen Sentra.

"Funny, she isn't out here," said Perian, with a puzzled look on his face. Then, suddenly, they heard a scream. 

It was Pansy, who had been quiet, and she was pointing down the narrow dark hallway, which was lit up with two glowing red eyes. The eyes were coming closer and at a very fast pace. Harry could hear the person crawling.

"OUT! OUT!" cried Perian as he swung the door opened and leapt out. He tore down the hall.

Harry began to go out, but someone shoved him back. He saw Draco Malfoy running as fast as he could down the hall and the others, thinking Harry had been Malfoy, ran ahead of Harry. Harry wasted no time and began to jump out when–

"AAAARRRGGGGH!"

He slammed against the wall, dangling from the hole. Queen Sentra had a tight hold on his feet. Harry started trying to kick her, but it was no use.

"Help!" cried Harry. "HELP ME!"

He saw Hermione pause and turn around, and then Ron grabbed her upper arm and began to run down the hallway with her, half dragging her.

"But it's Harry, we have to help Harry!" cried Hermione.

But Ron obviously thought Hermione was mistaken and ran with her anyway, leaving Harry screaming.

"Come back! Come back!" screamed Harry, kicking wildly, which seemed to amuse Queen Sentra.

She had her head back and was cackling madly with laughter. "You think you can escape, little boy?" She threw her head back again and began to shake with laughter. Harry took this time to try to kick her. He kicked wildly and got her right in the jaw.

Her laughter ceased at once. "You'll pay for that, boy," she said, her voice set in a deadly, dangerous whisper. 

Harry gulped. "I-I-I…" He suddenly felt his body being lifted and to his horror, she was lifted him up as though he weighed as much as a feather did. She turned Harry around where they were facing each other.

"There's no need, boy, to explain." Queen Sentra never took her eyes off of Harry. "I know exactly what you, your friends and that filthy little servant were doing. And let me tell you this: no…one…escapes…me."

Her mouth twisted in an odd, wicked smile. "I suppose Perian told you all about me? Excellent, excellent. So you know you shouldn't try to do anything. I've been very hungry these past nights and well…" she leaned close to Harry. "I just might not be so hungry after tonight."

Harry eyes widened. "Erm…you aren't…you won't…"

"Oh, but I am and I will," she whispered.

"Er…uh…well…"

"Yes?" she said. Her eyes narrowed. "Because if you're trying to say something, go ahead and say it. You're wasting my time…"

Harry couldn't think of a thing to say or to do. Queen Sentra reminded Harry strongly of Lord Voldemort, of whom he'd faced in his previous year. Harry almost feel his scar hurt…

"Well?" snapped Queen Sentra, pulling Harry from his thoughts and back into his nightmare. 

"I…"

"Be quiet," she said. "You're only wasting your time…" Her face lowered closer to Harry's when…

Harry kicked so hard he surprised himself. The queen went tumbling back into the hole and Harry fell to the floor with a thud. He got up and instantly began to run, not knowing where he was going.

Harry then heard a scream and then the weird whooshing sound again.

"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE!" screeched Queen Sentra. "YOU CAN'T AND YOU WON'T!"

Harry said nothing and continued to run very hard.

"The more your run the more painful your death will be! Ask anyone! They'd know!"

Harry's legs were getting tired…he had to run, though. He had to. He put on more speed and began to stumble. _No,_ thought Harry. _I won't fall, I won't…_ Harry was vaguely aware he'd fallen to the floor.

And the fact that Queen Sentra was sitting on top of him. Harry turned over about halfway and saw the queen's eyes glinting an evil red. Her breath was coming out in hard, sharp gasps and she looked excited. "So, thought you could run."

"Get off me…" Harry said weakly.

"I will not…until I get what I want," she said. She began to lower herself, her mouth open, fangs very visible…

Harry began to scream and he thought he'd never–

"Ahhhh!" 

Harry woke with a start and bumped his head on the seat. He stared around for a minute, wondering where he was. Then it all came rushing back to him: he was inside the compartment once more.

"Harry, are you okay?" asked Hermione. 

Harry put his hand to his head and leaned back. He was breathing hard, like had been in his dream… "A dream!" Harry said suddenly. "It…it was all a dream!"

"What was?" asked Ron, who was sitting by Hermione with a puzzled look on his face.

"The dream…oh, it was dream," he said. 

"What are you talking about, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "Nothing. I'm…just glad I had a dream. It seemed so vivid…so…so…"

"Dreams are like that," interrupted Hermione. "The thing is, are you okay? You were muttering for a while there and then you yelled."

"Fine." Harry turned and looked at Hermione. "What was I saying…in my sleep?"

"You were saying 'help me'," said Ron. "Don't know why. Bad dream?"

"I'll say." Harry closed his eyes, opened them and then looked out at the window. The weather was still stormy. "It's great to be back in reality." He turned back.

"Yeah, I guess," said Ron, who obviously didn't know what else to say.

The compartment was quiet.

Harry turned to look out the window. As he watched the fields and trees fly by the window, someone flew against the window.

Harry jumped back in surprise and then stared. She was familiar, with her hair color, eye color and…

"Queen Sentra," Harry gasped.

Hermione saw Harry's horrified look. "Harry, is something wrong? What are you looking at?"

Harry took his eyes off the window and pointed at it. "I-I-I…don't you see…?" He looked back at the window and saw that the queen had vanished.

"See what?"

Harry, his eyes still on the window, said, "Nothing. Nothing at all."

__

To be continued…


End file.
